


Child of a Time Lord

by butterflyslinky



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 06:08:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26468458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflyslinky/pseuds/butterflyslinky
Summary: The Doctor and Sarah Jane got married and had a son named Luke.
Relationships: Fourth Doctor/Sarah Jane Smith
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	Child of a Time Lord

**Author's Note:**

> THE LONG-AWAITED "LUKE IS THE DOCTOR'S SON" AU! This will likely update sporadically and not always linearly. I do take suggestions for scenes and chapters.
> 
> Please check out the art Lady_Sci_Fi has done for it:
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/13993362/chapters/32221560
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/13993362/chapters/36396579
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/13993362/chapters/48337975
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/13993362/chapters/63831175

It wasn’t by conscious design that the Doctor was holding Sarah Jane’s hand as they crossed the moores back toward the TARDIS. Harry was just behind them, babbling away about something, the alien threat defeated and the monster sent back to the Loch, but the Doctor wasn’t thinking about that.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said once Harry’s monologue paused.

“Yes?” Sarah prompted.

“It is quite nice here...all our friends nearby.”

“It is,” Sarah said.

“Would you like to get married?”

Sarah stopped walking. Harry walked into her and knocked both of them down.

“Sorry, old girl,” Harry said, helping her up. “But did the Doctor…?”

“Shut up, Harry,” both of the others said. The Doctor dropped to his knees. “Sarah Jane,” he said, still holding her hand. “Will you marry me?”

“Now?” Sarah said.

“No better time than the present,” the Doctor said. “Well...actually, there are several better times than the present. I could take you to 2407...that’s a lovely year…”

“No!” Sarah said. “No...now is good.” She smiled down at the Doctor. Well. Not too far down. “Now is perfect.”

Harry glanced between them. “Well...I suppose we should get you both to church.”

The Doctor ignored him. He stood up and swept Sarah up in his arms, kissing her thoroughly. Sarah threw her arms around his neck, kissing back, feet off the ground and kicking up in joy. Harry sputtered. “Well, I say!”

They broke apart. “Go find the Brigadier,” the Doctor said. “And Sergeant Benton. And someone who can officiate.”

“Right...yes. Right away.” Harry turned and jogged back toward the others, leaving the Doctor and Sarah Jane to celebrate their engagement privately.

*

They ended up back at the pub, the little wedding party very merry after the hasty ceremony that had just finished. Sarah had dug a wedding dress out of the TARDIS, though the Doctor had not bothered to change out of his customary hat and scarf. Sarah said she preferred it that way.

The Brigadier stood up, tapping his glass to get everyone’s attention. He wasn’t sure how he had ended up as the Doctor’s best man, but he was perfectly able to serve the role, and he thought he had gotten off much better than Harry, who had stood in as Sarah’s maid of honor. Well. Man of honor.

“Well,” the Brigadier said. “It has been quite a day. And unfortunately, with an energy crisis and a monster, I have not had time to write an actual speech.”

There was general laughter around the table. Sarah was leaning on the Doctor, looking so happy it almost hurt, the Doctor’s arms around her, an equal expression of joy on his face. The Brigadier couldn’t help but smile a bit, relaxing more than he usually would; they were well-suited to each other, and obviously very much in love.

“When I first met the Doctor, I thought he was very clever and extremely arrogant. After getting to know him through numerous lives, that impression has not changed.”

There was more laughter, especially from the Doctor. “I hope you’ve added mad to that list of descriptions,” Sarah called.

“I have,” the Brigadier agreed. “Along with a number of other things that I shall not say in mixed company.”

“Company’s not very mixed,” the Doctor observed, kissing Sarah on the cheek.

“I’m thinking of poor Sullivan,” the Brigadier said. “I should also mention that, when I met the Doctor, he was much, much shorter.”

“How unfortunate that I had to grow up,” the Doctor commented.

“Yes, you would have been able to look your wife in the eyes,” the Brigadier commented. “But even if you have to look at her hair, I can say that, in spite of you being arrogant, overbearing, far too clever, and exceedingly irritating…”

“Don’t hold back, sir, this sounds cathartic,” Benton muttered.

The Brigadier glared at him for a moment. “In spite of all that, you have grown into someone whom I respect, and admire. You have saved the world, and my men, and me more times than I care to count. And when Sarah Jane decided to run off with you, I knew she had made the right choice. You two are wonderful together, and I hope that the adventure of your marriage is as great as the adventures you go on every day together.” He raised his glass. “To Sarah Jane and the Doctor!”

The others raised their glasses in turn, and the Doctor kissed Sarah gently.

She smiled at him. “Still going to be Doctor Smith?” she teased.

“Of course,” the Doctor said. “Smith is an excellent name...I’m glad we can share it.”

Sarah chuckled softly. “Meant to be,” she said.

Harry stood up next. “I’m not much of a speaker,” he said. “But I’ll do my best.” He smiled at his friends. “I’ve had the pleasure of travelling with Sarah and the Doctor for quite a while now. I’ve seen you two fall in love...I’ve seen you risk everything for each other.” He swallowed a bit. “We’ve all been through some hard times...and I’m honored I got to share it with you. But I know...we could all see...you are the best friends a man could have, and you will be the best friends to each other as well.” He raised his glass. “To the future.”

The toast was accepted, the laughter not dying until well into the night.

*

The Doctor lay in bed at the pub, Sarah on his chest, idly tracing patterns on his skin. 

“Has this ever happened before?” Sarah asked. “Humans and Time Lords?”

“Of course,” the Doctor said. “Though it’s generally not...accepted. Plenty of Time Lords have been with humans, but...it’s not talked about. And I don’t think many have actually had a marriage performed.”

“So the others...they won’t like this?”

“I see no reason for them to even know,” the Doctor said. “And even if they do learn about it...well, I hardly care what they think of it.”

Sarah smiled, leaning on his chest, listening to the double heartbeat. “They’re very loud.”

“True, but they beat for you.”

She swatted at him. “You don’t have to be sappy about it.”

The Doctor tilted her chin up and kissed her. “I’ll be as sappy as I please.”

Sarah relented. They kissed for a few minutes before she lay back down. “We should go back to London,” she said. “I’ll need to introduce you to Aunt Levinia...maybe get a home together.”

“We have the TARDIS.”

“You know what I mean...something stable for when we come back.” Sarah smiled. “I don’t mean I want to stop travelling...just that it’d be nice to have something to come back to sometimes.”

“We’ll go back to London,” the Doctor agreed. “And if you want a home, I will happily find one for us. But after that, I think a nice honeymoon...there are several lovely planets with excellent rates. And we can be there for years and never miss a thing.”

“I do still age,” Sarah reminded him. “And I’d rather not grow old on my honeymoon.”

The Doctor sighed a bit. “I also age,” he said. “Though not the same way you do. I could, if I wanted, but…”

“But you’d still live on after me,” Sarah said. “I know. But even when you regenerate, you aren’t you anymore...I don’t think I should like living after this aspect of you is gone.”

“Perhaps not,” the Doctor said. “And to spend this lifetime with you...however long that lasts...I think all my future lives will pale in comparison.”

Sarah smiled a bit. “I think the lifetime you spend with me will be quite enough,” she said. “An eternity of adventure sounds nice, but I think I’ll eventually want to retire.”

“Whatever for?” the Doctor asked. “There’s an entire universe out there to explore...what could retirement offer that’s better than that?”

“Hmm,” Sarah hummed. “Not waking up every day wondering if I’m going to be shot at?”

“I suppose there is something to that,” the Doctor conceded. “But not yet?”

“No,” Sarah said. “Not yet...you have a whole universe to show me first.”

*

They left the next morning, accepting the congratulations and well-wishes of their friends with good grace. The Doctor promised to get Sarah back to London five minutes ago, so they could meet with Aunt Lavinia.

Naturally, that did not happen.

“You know, if you couldn’t get us back to London, you could have at least found one of those nice honeymoon planets,” Sarah grumbled. She and the Doctor, predictably, had been captured and locked in a very small room.

“Oh, I don’t know,” the Doctor said. “This one does have atmosphere...scientific interest...bunkbeds…”

Sarah swatted at him. “If you think I’m going to let you do anything in a dirty research center…”

“Do you have anything better we could be doing?”

“We could go out the window.”

“They’re magnetically locked.”

“But the power is low.”

The Doctor tried the window, which opened easily. “So it is,” he said. “Come on, then.”

They didn’t make it far before Sarah felt the terror again, and there was a dead man, and absolutely nothing was going right. They stumbled in the dark, evading the monster and the scientists, the Doctor trying to stay cheerful and Sarah so afraid.

All in all, not what Sarah had in mind for a honeymoon. Even when they got off the planet, it wasn’t over, the anti-matter chasing them around the ship and oh, Sarah almost regretted all of her life choices up until this point.

The Doctor, of course, wasn’t sorry. He never was.

“Don’t you ever get tired?” Sarah asked. They were floating through the Vortex, safe in the TARDIS, laying in bed together.

“Hm?”

“Of this...running around saving everyone. Surely it must be exhausting.”

“I don’t think so...we have plenty of rest in between.”

Sarah sat up, looking around thoughtfully. “I don’t know how restful this is,” she said. “Just...being. Not really anywhere, just existing in the void.”

“I find it resting,” the Doctor said. “Not having to be anywhere, or do anything except keep the TARDIS flying, and she flies herself half the time...being able to just exist is refreshing.”

Sarah hummed. “I suppose,” she said. “But I never liked sitting still. There’s always too much to do.”

“Oh, we’ll be doing plenty again soon,” the Doctor said.

“Promise?”

“Definitely. I’m never too far from excitement.” He sat up and wrapped his arms around Sarah. “So right now, rest with me.”

Sarah smirked over her shoulder. “I can think of something to do,” she said.

“Enlighten me.”

Sarah pushed him down on the bed.

*

They did make it back to Earth eventually, and once the crisis had been dealt with (there was always a crisis), Sarah insisted on going home to see Aunt Lavinia.

“I don’t usually meet families,” the Doctor grumbled as he drove Bessie toward Ealing.

“No, you usually go off again as soon as we touch down,” Sarah said. “But we’re married...you should know the woman who raised me. She’ll probably at least want us to come for Christmas now and then.”

The Doctor sighed, but raised no further objection.

Lavinia greeted them at the door, looking rather disapproving. “Where have you been?” she demanded.

“Oh, here and there,” Sarah answered easily. “Aunt Lavinia, this is my husband, Doctor John Smith. John, this is my Aunt Lavinia.”

“Hm.” Lavinia looked him over. “What are you a doctor of, exactly?”

“Oh, several things,” the Doctor said. “I did read your paper on the teleological response of the virus. It was quite enlightening.”

Lavinia perked up immediately. “Oh, well, if you liked that one, I’ve got something better on the way.”

“Do tell me about it.” The Doctor followed Lavinia inside. Sarah smiled to herself as she trailed behind them, listening to them discuss some field of supernatural science or whatever they were on about.

The topic kept the two of them talking until tea was served and they were all settled in properly. Lavinia finished her monologue before she smiled at the Doctor. “But enough about that--what is it you do, John?”

“Oh, whatever catches my attention,” the Doctor said vaguely. “I’ve been working with the British military, though my contract ended...now we’re just traveling.”

“Sarah did mention it,” Lavinia said. “Something about the pyramids?”

“Yes, they were lovely,” Sarah said. “We learned a lot about Sutekh.”

“A rather dark topic for newlyweds,” Lavinia observed. “Still, you were always an odd girl.” She set her teacup aside. “Will you be in England long?”

“A few weeks,” the Doctor said. “We will be getting a marital home here...something small and inexpensive for when we’re not travelling.”

“Oh, good,” Lavinia said. “Having you nearby might make up for my not being invited to the wedding.”

“We eloped,” Sarah protested.

“That’s not an excuse,” Lavinia snapped.

“We are sorry,” the Doctor said. “We didn’t have time to fetch you. I only hope you forgive us one day.”

“Hm.” Lavinia smiled a bit at the Doctor. “I think I might.”

Sarah hid her smile, glad her family got along.

*

The apartment in London wasn’t very big, but it was enough. Two bedrooms, a nice kitchen that the Doctor made good use of, close to the magazine office. Sarah looked around as they moved in what little they had. “Two rooms,” she said. “Do we fight over who gets an office?”

“If I can keep the TARDIS there, I see no reason you wouldn’t use it,” the Doctor said. “I have labs and offices in the TARDIS if I need them.”

“Yes, you are rather unemployed at the moment,” Sarah said. “Unless the Brigadier calls you.”

“And he knows better than to call if it’s not a real emergency.”

“Exactly.”

They were quiet for a moment.

“Can you imagine a domestic life?” the Doctor asked. 

“No,” Sarah said. “No, I can’t say I can.”

The Doctor nodded. “We can mail-order furniture and move along?”

“Yes, let’s. We’ll have Mike be here to accept it.”

“Good.” The Doctor kissed her. “Pick a place, and I’ll take you there.”

“I’ll think about it. Let’s find some catalogs.”

*

Sure enough, they were off again the next day, on another adventure in space and time. Sarah didn’t know that they would ever spend more than a few days at their new home, but she was still glad they had it. It gave her something to look forward to returning to.

Not that the TARDIS wasn’t a good home, but it was rather unstable. Sarah did like to have her feet on the ground sometimes, though space was thrilling, and she liked being places where people didn’t hypnotize her or kidnap her or make her go blind. Not that London was safe, exactly, but it was usually a familiar sort of danger.

At least, until the plants tried to take it over. And that was just too much.

Sarah slumped down in front of the TARDIS console once they were out of that mess, glad that it was over and they were off again. She had just started to relax when the TARDIS started beeping rather loudly. Sarah looked up in confusion. “Doctor?”

“Hm?” The Doctor looked up from his console. “What’s the matter?”

“Why is it beeping at me?”

“She’s doing a medical scan,” the Doctor said. “Probably to make sure nothing happened down there...let me see.” He hit a few buttons and looked at the screen for a moment before his frown melted away. “Sarah!”

“What is it?” she asked. “Am I ill?”

“No,” the Doctor said. He was fully grinning now, looking so happy. “You’re pregnant.”

Sarah stared for a moment before she leaped up and rushed to the Doctor, throwing herself in his arms. He kissed her thoroughly, holding her close.

“I didn’t think…” she said. 

“I didn’t either,” the Doctor said. “But...I’m happy.”

“So am I,” Sarah said. “So very happy.” She leaned on her husband. “I guess I won’t need that office after all.”

He laughed. “No...I suppose you won’t.”

“Should we go back to London?” Sarah asked.

“You have a while yet,” the Doctor said. “Why don’t we travel a bit more before we have to settle down?”

“Yes,” Sarah said. “I suppose we should.”


End file.
